Telangana stir shifts IPL out of Hyderabad

HT Correspondent,
Mumbai

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Updated: Jan 23, 2010 01:16 IST

With protests demanding a separate Telangana state continuing in Andhra Pradesh, Indian Premier League Commis-sioner Lalit Modi announced on Friday he was shifting the opening match of the Twenty-20 tournament on March 12 from Hyderabad to Mumbai.

The match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders will now be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.

For a man who shifted the entire second season of IPL to another country — South Africa — after the Centre said it could not provide the security Modi sought, moving just one match to another city was small cheese.

Modi seemed to have made up his mind after protesters disrupted a Twenty20 tournament in Hyderabad on Thursday.

“People from all over the world are coming and we are going to make sure everything is in order,” said Modi. He said the venues of the other matches would remain the same.

But with Australians included in both the competing teams, and the Shiv Sena having sought a boycott of Australian cricketers following the attacks on Indians in Australia, whether Mumbai will be as safe as Modi expects is a moot question.